Venues across the city are set to utilise the cutting-edge technology to encourage festival goers to 'Explore' participating venues during the next few weeks.

More than 50 cafes, restaurants and wine bars have installed Bluetooth Smart Beacons, which work in conjunction with the new Festival 'Explorer' app, to send personalised micro-location based notifications to people who are close by. It is the first time in Australia the technology has been used for a commercial purpose, with the app and execution designed and developed by DT.

The concept is simple: explore Melbourne's food and wine venues to win
exclusive festival experiences. However it's not a case of walk past and
win; explorers are required to dive a little deeper into the venue and
discover something new, with little challenges along the way. The
Bluetooth Smart Beacons pick up that the challenge has been completed,
and reward Explorers with free food and drinks, unique event
experiences, and of course Festival tickets.

Says Athan Didaskalou, DT strategist: "The Melbourne Food
and Wine Festival is all about getting people to explore the city and
its venues as never before.

"To
ensure people explore fantastic events during Melbourne Food and Wine
Festival we developed this new, cutting-edge promotional campaign. Using
the Bluetooth Smart Beacon technology allows people to opt in and
participate in new culinary adventures as they wander the city and
Festival, and encourages the discovery of venues and opportunities that
they otherwise may not become aware of."

Ogilvy Melbourne's ECD Brendon Guthrie said the strategy and its
supporting promotional elements were designed to tap into the
sophisticated food and wine culture in Melbourne.

Says Guthrie: "This festival
is now one of the world's leading food and wine events, so the
expectations of those who attend are very high. Our challenge was to
blend good ideas with cutting-edge technology to make sure exploring
Melbourne's festival is a deep, rich and above all, unique experience."

The Bluetooth-based technology is more accurate
than other GPS-based engagement tools, as it is able to detect even the
slightest difference in distance. It also has the ability to trigger
additional content to players such as videos and news on those events
due to its location-based accuracy. While the technology has been around
for some years, the introduction of Low Energy Bluetooth is becoming a
prime opportunity for retailers and businesses to think about new ways
to engage audiences at the point of sale. The Melbourne Food and Wine
Festival were keen to be one of the first in the country to experiment
on what will soon be a cultural norm.

Bluetooth also allows
multiple messages to be pushed out to multiple passers-by
simultaneously, ensuring everyone who is interested in exploring the
Festival can be involved in the daily challenges and opportunities.

Says Didaskalou: "It
is incredibly exciting to be part of this world-class food and wine
festival and its use of this relatively new engagement technology. We
can't wait for visitors to be part of it too."

The
Explorer App also supports the 'Discover Something New' campaign which
launched late 2013 and executed by Ogilvy Melbourne, comprising TVCs,
cinema and outdoor advertising, digital display and press, plus a
limited edition run of art posters.

Melbourne Food and Wine
Festival presented by Bank of Melbourne runs from February 28-March 16.